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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939359">Confused</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipuli/pseuds/sipuli'>sipuli</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(wilbur soot as in ghostbur), Canon Divergence, Emotional Manipulation, Gaslighting, Imprisonment, Manipulative Dream, Memory Loss, Oneshot, because this was written before we Knew About Some Stuff, dream being a piece of shit in general, since. you know. ghostbur, tommy's exile arc, what a surprise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:48:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,474</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28939359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipuli/pseuds/sipuli</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dream is such a good friend to Ghostbur. His head is all messy and his memories are all over the place, but Dream is always there to remind him what is real and what is not. Ghostbut trusts Dream, and if Dream thinks Ghostbur should stay in this room, then he's staying in here.</p><p>Or: Dream finds a way to make sure Ghostbur won't show up and tell Tommy what actually happened to his party invites.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; Wilbur Soot, No Romantic Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Confused</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is another one of my older pieces from the exile days. I wrote it after Tommy's escape, when Ghostbur was still missing. This was my theory of where he was, and I still think it works pretty well.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ghostbur isn't quite sure how much time has passed since Dream left him in here. It feels like a long time, but then again, his perception of time hasn't been working very well since... well. Since he became a ghost. Sometimes when he spends a long time in the sewer, huddled up in his tiny library without seeing the sky, he might think it's been an hour and it has actually been two days, or he thinks a week has passed when in reality it has only been a day. It's similar in here, in this tiny room. He doesn't sleep, and he can't even see the sun in here to keep track of the days with the light. So he can't really trust his own judgment. Besides, it can't have been that long, because Dream said he would be back soon, didn't he? And Dream wouldn't lie to him. He just wishes he could know for sure. </p><p>Dream told him to not go anywhere, to wait for him in here, but after what felt like at least a day to him he tried to pass through the wall. He wasn't going to go anywhere, he just wanted to see the sky, to help him keep track of time, to keep everything in order inside his head that gets confused so easily. But to his surprise the wall felt solid under his fingers. Nothing has felt solid ever since he became what he is now. He can hold things if he focuses very hard, but usually his transparent hand just pushes straight through anything he touches. But these cold, white walls are pushing back against him if he tries to go through them. It doesn't just stop him from leaving, it feels... bad. Wrong. Unnatural. Ghostbur's head gets a little bit dizzy if he touches the wall for too long, so most of the time he just sits in the middle of the room. He sits there and he waits. </p><p>Sometimes it gets boring. There's nothing to do in here, no books to read, no brewing stand to make potions with, nothing he usually does to help time pass a little bit quicker. It's a small room, he can walk from one side to the other with just a few steps, and there's no furniture, no room to fly around, there's nothing. And this room <em> hurts </em> him, not just mentally, there's something about it that makes him feel weak and nauseous and tired. It's the same feeling that gets overwhelming if he tries to pass through the walls. It feels like the room doesn't want him to leave. </p><p>The room feels like a prison cell.</p><p>Ghostbur pushes the thought away from his mind. Of course this isn't a prison, that's stupid. Why would Dream want to lock him away? He has an important task in hand. He needs to deliver the invites. Tommy is so excited about the party, he can't wait to see all his friends again, and Ghostbur is excited too! He spent a long time writing each and every invite by hand, marking down the time and place Tommy had told him. Tommy showed him the decorations he had made for the party, the beach looked so happy and inviting with them and Ghostbur was so glad that Tommy was finally going to have something to look forward to.</p><p>Ghostbur might be a little bit naive, and he might forget about things and get confused easily and not always know what's going on, but he's not <em> stupid</em>. He can see that there's something going on between Tommy and Dream and he doesn't like it. Tommy hasn't been very happy ever since he went on this vacation and Ghostbur has a vague feeling that it has something to do with Tubbo and L'Manberg and how Tommy seems to think he can't go back, for whatever reason he has for it. He tried to help, he tried so hard to make Tommy feel better. He saw how much Tommy missed L'Manberg, so he helped him build Logstedshire and make the new place feel like home. He saw how much Tommy missed Tubbo, so he gave him the compass to remind him of him. But no matter what he did, how much he tried to cheer Tommy up, he was always just sad and sad and sad.</p><p>He even talked to Dream about it. Dream is Tommy's friend, he wants to cheer Tommy up just as much as Ghostbur does, he's patiently explained it to him time and time again every time Ghostbur gets confused and thinks Dream has done something that friends shouldn't do. Like when Dream insisted on destroying Tommy's armor and weapons every day. <em> See, Ghostbur, </em> he said, <em> I don't want to do it either, but it's for Tommy's own good, it's so he can learn to live by my rules and accept the fact that he needs to do as I say. His life will be so much easier once he sees it. You want his life to get easier, right? He's going through a lot right now, I'm sure you wouldn't want things to be any harder for him than they already are, because you would be a really bad friend if you did. But I know you're not a bad friend, you just don't always understand everything the way you should. Don't worry, I'm here to help if you ever feel like there's something that doesn't make sense to you.  </em></p><p>Dream is right, of course he is right, Ghostbur just can't always see it because sometimes it feels like his own mind is working against him and making everything blurry and messy and changing his memories and making him so, so confused. He's lucky to have someone like Dream to make sure he always knows what's happening. But sometimes he still feels like there's something going on behind his back, something Tommy and Dream won't talk to him about, something he just doesn't quite understand, and it's making him feel nervous. Tommy is in a worse and worse shape every day and Dream doesn't seem to even notice it and Ghostbur is sure that something bad is going to happen.</p><p>And now, the compass. The one he gave to Tubbo. He thought it was a brilliant idea, to make them a pair, always pointing at each other. Always reminding their owners of their friendship. Tubbo was so happy when Ghostbur gave him the compass, and he was so devastated when he had accidentally broken it. Ghostbur tried his best to comfort him, he told him he'd make him another one and that it's not such a big deal, it's just a piece of metal and it's really the thought that actually counts. And he told Dream about it, of course he did, he tells Dream everything.</p><p>There was something in Dream's voice he didn't like, something that made him feel uneasy.</p><p>He asked Dream not to tell Tommy about it. It would just make him more sad over something that doesn't really matter because Tubbo didn't break it on purpose and he's going to have another one soon anyway and it just feels unnecessary to bother Tommy with this, right?</p><p>Yes, of course, Dream said. We don't need to tell him, he said. And there was something bad in his voice, something Ghostbur couldn't grasp.</p><p>They were on their way to L'Manberg to deliver the invites, Dream had promised to help Ghostbur with the task. That's when Dream told him that there's just one thing he needs to do first, and that it was something Ghostbur couldn't come help him with, but it was okay because he knew a perfect place for him to wait until Dream returned.</p><p>First the weird tone in Dream's voice when he heard about Tubbo's compass. Then the mysterious <em> something </em> he needed to do, alone. Then this room and the invites still neatly folded in Ghostbur's pocket and the passing of time that he can't figure out but he could swear he's been in here for way too long and -</p><p><em> You're just confused, </em> Dream would say. <em> You don't understand what's going on, and it's not your fault that your mind is messy and wrong and tries to trick you, but that's just how it is and you need to stop trying to think by yourself because you clearly can't do that. </em></p><p>And he would be right. Dream knows how hard things can be for Ghostbur and he wants to help him. He's going to show up any minute now and they can go back and give everyone their invites and the party will be a blast and Tommy will finally be happy. Ghostbur can't stop himself from smiling when he thinks about it. </p><p>He just wishes he wasn't so confused all the time. </p>
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